European stocks lose more ground as banks falter

LONDON Feb 9 (Reuters) - European stocks fell on Tuesday,
extending sharp losses from the previous session, as concerns
persisted over the health of the region's top banks given signs
of a global economic slowdown.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index, which had
fallen 3.4 percent in the previous session, lost more ground to
decline by 0.3 percent in early session trading.

The European banking index - which had slumped 5.6
percent on Monday - fell back by another 1.1 percent.

Goldman Sachs analysts wrote that while there were no signs
of any strain in terms of euro or U.S. dollar funding in money
markets for European banks, market liquidity had nevertheless
reduced.
(Reporting by Atul Prakash; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)